Enhanced photoluminescence of water-soluble Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots by thiol ligand exchange

pH Tunable Patterning of Quantum Dots

Patterning of quantum dots (QDs) is essential for many, especially high-tech, applications. Here, pH tunable assembly of QDs over functional patterns prepared by electrohydrodynamic jet printing of poly(2-vinylpyridine) is presented. The selective adsorption of QDs from water dispersions is mediated by the electrostatic interaction between the ligand composed of 3-mercaptopropionic acid and patterned poly(2-vinylpyridine). The pH of the dispersion provides tunability at two levels. First, the adsorption density of QDs and fluorescence from the patterns can be modulated for pH > ≈4. Second, patterned features show unique type of disintegration resulting in randomly positioned features within areas defined by the printing for pH ≤ ≈4. The first capability is useful for deterministic patterning of QDs, whereas the second one enables hierarchically structured encoding of information by generating stochastic features of QDs within areas defined by the printing. This second capability is exploited for generating addressable security labels based on unclonable features. Through image analysis and feature matching algorithms, it is demonstrated that such patterns are unclonable in nature and provide a suitable platform for anti-counterfeiting applications. Collectively, the presented approach not only enables effective patterning of QDs, but also establishes key guidelines for addressable assembly of colloidal nanomaterials.

Rapid and Sensitive Identification and Discrimination of Bound/Unbound Ligands on Colloidal Nanocrystals via Direct Analysis in Real-Time Mass Spectrometry

Direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) has been applied to the characterization of colloidal nanocrystal surface ligands. The nanocrystals (NCs) in colloidal suspension were purified and deposited onto a solid substrate, and the solvent was allowed to evaporate. Ligand desorption was thermally stimulated using a temperature ramp from 30 °C up to 530 °C, and the desorbed ligands were introduced into a DART-MS instrument where metastable He atoms provide energy for ionization and fragmentation through the reaction with ambient vapors including O₂ and H₂O. The method allows the identification of ligand species with various functional groups, even in complex, mixed-ligand samples. Bound and unbound molecules can be distinguished based on the desorption temperature. In ideal cases, the desorption profile for a given molecule can be analyzed according to methods adapted from thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) to estimate desorption activation energy for NC-bound ligands. Results are presented and discussed for different nanocrystal and ligand types. The method is a promising complement to the range of existing tools for NC ligand analysis.

Emission Enhancement of Cu-Doped InP Quantum Dots through Double Shelling Scheme

The doping of transition metal ions, such as Cu⁺ and Mn²⁺ into a quantum dot (QD) host is one of the useful strategies in tuning its photoluminescence (PL). This study reports on a two-step synthesis of Cu-doped InP QDs double-shelled with ZnSe inner shell/ZnS outer shell. As a consequence of the double shelling-associated effective surface passivation along with optimal doping concentrations, Cu-doped InP/ZnSe/ZnS (InP:Cu/ZnSe/ZnS) QDs yield single Cu dopant-related emissions with high PL quantum yields of 57–58%. This study further attempted to tune PL of Cu-doped QDs through the variation of InP core size, which was implemented by adopting different types of Zn halide used in core synthesis. As the first application of doped InP QDs as electroluminescent (EL) emitters, two representative InP:Cu/ZnSe/ZnS QDs with different Cu concentrations were then employed as active emitting layers of all-solution-processed, multilayered QD-light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) with the state-of-the-art hybrid combination of organic hole transport layer plus inorganic electron transport layers. The EL performances, such as luminance and efficiencies of the resulting QLEDs with different Cu doping concentrations, were compared and discussed.

Organic-to-water dispersible Mn:ZnS–ZnS doped core–shell quantum dots: synthesis, characterization and their application towards optical bioimaging and a turn-off fluorosensor

Dot-in-dot core/shell Mn:ZnS/ZnS QDs as a good fluorescent agent for bioimaging and a turn-off fluorescent probe for detection of heavy metal ions.

Tunable White Fluorescent Copper Gallium Sulfide Quantum Dots Enabled by Mn Doping

Fluorescence of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) can be tuned by engineering the band gap via size and composition control and further doping them with impurity ions. Targeting on highly bright white-emissive I-III-VI -type copper gallium sulfide (Cu-Ga-S, CGS) host QDs with the entire visible spectral coverage of blue to red, herein, Mn(2+) ion doping, through surface adsorption and lattice diffusion is fulfilled. Upon doping a distinct Mn emission from (4)T1-(6)A1 transition successfully appears in white photoluminescence (PL) of undoped CGS/ZnS core/shell QDs and with varying Mn concentration a systematic white spectral evolution of CGS:Mn/ZnS QDs is achievable with high PL quantum yield retained. The origins of white PL of CGS:Mn/ZnS QDs that is well decomposed into three emission bands are appropriately assigned. The resulting single-phased, doped QDs are then employed as near-UV-to-white down converters for the fabrication of white light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Electroluminescent properties of white QD-LEDs depending on Mn concentration of CGS:Mn/ZnS QDs and forward current are also discussed in detail.

Doped semiconductor nanocrystal based fluorescent cellular imaging probes

Doped semiconductor nanocrystals such as Mn doped ZnS, Mn doped ZnSe and Cu doped InZnS, are considered as new classes of fluorescent biological probes with low toxicity. Although the synthesis in high quality of such nanomaterials is now well established, transforming them into functional fluorescent probes remains a challenge. Here we report a fluorescent cellular imaging probe made of high quality doped semiconductor nanocrystals. We have identified two different coating approaches suitable for transforming the as synthesized hydrophobic doped semiconductor nanocrystals into water-soluble functional nanoparticles. Following these approaches we have synthesized TAT-peptide- and folate-functionalized nanoparticles of 10-80 nm hydrodynamic diameter and used them as a fluorescent cell label. The results shows that doped semiconductor nanocrystals can be an attractive alternative for conventional cadmium based quantum dots with low toxicity.